Continue reading »]]> President Barack Obama appeared on NBC’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon this week and assisted in delivering a “slow jam” of the news.

You read that right.  A sitting President of the United States appeared on a low-rated, late night talk show to do a comedy bit?

The worst part is that it really wasn’t even that great of a bit.  It might be best described as “mildly amusing,” and that’s being gracious on my part.

The video of President Obama’s appearance can be seen below.  If you are unable to see the embedded video, you can watch it on the Late Night with Jimmy Fallon website, here.

Seriously?  Doesn’t the man have more pressing matters on his agenda?  You know, like running the largest country in the free world?  That kind of goes with the title “President of the United States of America.”  Just a thought…

High unemployment.
Gas prices.
A weak economy.
Troops in Afghanistan (and his having just committed us to 10 more years there).

That’s just for starters.  There are people who have been out of work for over three years and have stopped looking–and this President thinks it’s OK to just yuk it up on Late Night?

The only reason Barack Obama showed up on this show was because it was taped live on the campus of the University of North Carolina and the President is relying heavily on the youth vote in the upcoming election and this is part of his campaign strategy.  Still though, this is a trip that cost the taxpayers money and there are far better ways for the President to reach this demographic.

This kind of appearance is an embarrassment and it’s beneath the Office of the Presidency, but clearly not beneath its current occupant.

#fitn

Continue reading »]]> Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich will reportedly bow out of the race for the GOP nomination next week, according to “unnamed sources” within his camp.  It is also believed that Gingrich will formally support the party’s presumed nominee, Mitt Romney.

I suppose this story is newsworthy because Gingrich is a well-known figure, but…c’mon…let’s be honest, here.  Newt Gingrich was never going to be the Republican nominee.  His campaign was a disaster from day one, leaving some to suggest now that he may have had the worst Presidential campaign in history.  (He didn’t, by the way.  That honor belongs to Fred Thompson’s 2008 effort.)

There are plenty of reasons why Newt never caught on, but probably the biggest factor is the one no one really talked about: voters don’t like him…he just never figured it would be Republican voters that would stay away.

Speaker Gingrich has plenty to offer the GOP and conservatives–it just won’t be as President.

Despite what the Ron Paul voters think, the stage is essentially set: Mitt Romney will take on Barack Obama this fall, and it will be a long, tough campaign fight.

#fitn

Continue reading »]]> The Republican-controlled New Hampshire House has voted to kill a bill that would have repealed the State’s gay marriage law in a 211-116 vote.

This vote was the right thing to do.  This bill should never have been introduced in the first place.  Regardless of what some people think marriage is, there is no denying it is an entirely legal arrangement in the eyes of the Government.

Let’s be honest, shall we?  If marriage is a “religious institution,” then was it cheapened when non-religious people could get married in ceremonies performed by Justices of the Peace?  No, of course it wasn’t.  I’ll happily yield that marriage may have started with religion, but that’s not what it is now.

• You have to apply to the State to get married.
• Then you pay the State a tax.
• Then the State tells you who can perform your marriage.
• Then, you may potentially need to get a permit to have your wedding at a particular outdoor venue.
• Then, once you do all of that and receive the appropriate signatures, you receive a marriage license.
• If you dissolve your marriage, you have to do it through a court of law and (typically) engage a lawyer.

At every step of the way, there is a legal requirement that must be met by individuals wishing to marry.  For there to be two separate but “equal” institutions–one for heterosexual couples and one for homosexual couples–is completely wrong and it’s an insult to our society.

My problem with this story, though, has nothing to do with the failed attempt at repeal.  It has everything to do with one imbecile who couldn’t keep his mouth shut.

Enter Republican State Representative Warren Groen of Rochester, NH.  The following is quoted directly from the New Hampshire Union Leader article referenced above:

“Who is next in line? The animal lovers can’t be too far behind. Once you open the word to redefinition, it’s open to redefinition,” said Rep. Warren Groen, R-Rochester. “We are indeed on a slippery slope and we are indeed at the edge of the cliff.”

The only “slippery slope” were on is the kind of intolerance that spews out of the mouths of morons like this.

Rep. Groen, you are thoroughly ignorant and you should be ashamed.  I don’t care what your religious beliefs are, the law must apply to everyone or it must apply to no one.  I don’t care if you think it’s unnatural.  I don’t care if you’re disgusted by it.  You’re there to decide the laws that affect everybody else, so do us all a favor?  Shut your damned mouth.  You clearly can’t speak intelligently, so just don’t even try.

For you to equate a same-sex couple with bestiality is obtuse and naive.  The word marriage was opened to redefinition as soon as the State inserted itself in to the process.  The State created this disparity.  If the State wants to regulate the ability of people to marry, then it must regulate the ability of all people to marry, regardless of whether you approve or not.

I don’t care if you’re a Republican or a Conservative.  You and people like you are what’s wrong with Concord and what’s wrong with Government in general.

The fact that the right thing happened to day is nothing short of amazing to me–especially given some of the imbeciles that claim to represent us.

#fitn

Continue reading »]]> Arguably, one of the most famous films in the history of American cinema is director Francis Ford Coppola’s adaptation of Mario Puzo’s novel, “The Godfather.”

One of the most famous scenes in the film involves Don Vito’s eldest son, Sonny Corleone, played by actor James Caan.  Sonny is sold out by his abusive brother-in-law Carlo to Don Emilio Barzini who sets a trap for Sonny. When he pulls up to the Long Beach Causeway toll booth, he is met by Barzini’s goons and they unload their tommy guns.  For 1972, it was a particularly violent scene.

I was listening to the always great Michael Graham on 96.9 Boston Talks during my drive home and one of his callers evoked this imagery when talking about the tolls on Massachusetts’ roads.

This is one of those issues that hits home for me because my town–Merrimack New Hampshire–is the only town in the Granite State to have toll booths at its exit and on ramps to the Everett Turnpike.

Sonny Corleone got better treatment at that toll booth than the residents of Merrimack receive at theirs.

Recently, the House Public Works and Highways Committee voted 14-0 against a bill that would have eliminated the Merrimack tolls booths.  Toll booths, that were erected to pay for Merrimack to have access to the Turnpike and that were created over 25 years ago.  That wasn’t the only reason the toll booths were put in, though.  While many would cite the convenience factor for Merrimack since the Turnpike bisects the town, the fact is the toll booths were also put up on the exits to penalize the people who come up from Massachusetts to work in the town.

In the 1980′s, Digital Equipment Corporation was the largest employer in Merrimack.  They built out a large office facility in town that even had its own access to the highway at one point–access that was cut off when the ramp tolls were built.  Anyone just going to work at Digital or even Anheuser Busch had to pay a toll–but not every ramp had a toll plaza.

In fact, you only pay a toll in Merrimack if you are traveling northbound on the Everett Turnpike and exiting OR if you are traveling southbound and entering the Turnpike.   In other words, if you were leaving work and heading north to another New Hampshire town, you paid no toll.  However, if you were heading toward Massachusetts (or home to border town Nashua, New Hampshire) you were out of luck.

26 years later, Digital is gone.  Fidelity Investments now owns their complex and dozens of other businesses have sprouted up in the surrounding area.  The State of New Hampshire still collects the tolls–even though the “access” was paid for multiple times over many years ago.  If they eliminate those tolls, they lose the money–and money is power in Government.

Instead, the town of Merrimack gets the Sonny Corleone treatment with the only difference being that Sonny got to stop paying tolls.

It’s time to take down the Merrimack tolls.

In fact, why not do away with all direct usage tolls in the State of New Hampshire and replace them with a gasoline tax?  The toll system requires overhead in the form of building maintenance, toll maintenance, union labor, and now costs of maintaining and subscribing to the EZPass system.  The Granite State’s toll system has quietly grown into a behemoth money pit–all because the State is addicted to the money.  An indirect usage tax makes much more sense and would involve a cost savings overall for the state.

I travel from my home in Merrimack down to Massachusetts for work every day.  That means I pay approximately $500 a year just to access the highway.  I spend far more than that in fuel on a yearly basis.  The State certainly doesn’t get to keep the majority of my $500, so why not change to a model that’s cheaper for them to implement and sees them keeping more of the revenue?

But then, that would mean that the State of New Hampshire would do something that actually made sense where all of this is concerned.  In the end, the taxpayers and workers of Merrimack will continue to be discriminated against and taxed unfairly.

When does it end, Concord?  When do you stop treating Merrimack like second class citizens?

#fitn

Continue reading »]]> Congratulations to former Pennsylvania Senator and Presidential Hopeful Rick Santorum!

His campaign has managed to produce the worst 30 second spot I’ve seen in my life. In it, a supposed Mitt Romney lookalike uses a paintball gun to fire shots of mud at Santorum–all of which miss their target.  It’s title?  Absolutely terrible: “Rombo.”

(If you’re unable to see the dreck embedded above, please click here to watch it.)

This is the kind of imagery I expect to see in a local race for Congress–not for a Presidential hopeful.  A candidate with a message as strong as Santorum’s doesn’t need his campaign to stoop to poorly produced spots.   Rick Santorum is a solid conservative.  This kind of ad is poor advice from his campaign and they’re not serving him well with this commercial.

I’ve no problem with the substance of the ad–he can go after Romney all he wants to and draw what ever distinction he thinks is appropriate.  The imagery is just bush league, though…and the production value isn’t all that impressive, either.

This is one of the worst ads I’ve seen in a long, long time.   Downright embarrassing.

#fitn

Continue reading »]]> This morning I was a guest on WNYC’s “The Takeaway” as part of a panel of  four Republican Voters to discuss the current state of the GOP primaries.

I appeared as someone who supported Mitt Romney, and each of the other participants had supported a different candidate.

Audio of the segment is below.  If you’re unable to see the audio player embedded below, you can play the segment directly from The Takeaway’s website.

The Takeaway is a co-production of WNYC Radio and Public Radio International, in collaboration with The BBC World Service, New York Times Radio and WGBH Boston.

#fitn

Continue reading »]]> Three caucuses occurred this week–each was won by Rick Santorum.  In the wake of that hat trick, here’s what I think I know.

• National polls are worthless.  What matters at this phase is the delegate count toward nomination.  Polls are for headlines.
• Perhaps I’m a bit of Primary Purist, but I take no value in caucuses–especially when, in the case of Missouri–there were no delegates attached to winning.
• Rick Santorum does, but that may be because he’s nipping at Mitt Romney’e heels in the delegate count right now.
• Santorum has vaulted into second place, but the upcoming calendar does not look promising. I can’t see him taking the lead.
• Santorum will also have a tough time because he IS so solidly conservative.  The Republican Party has been trying to distance itself from the Conservative wing since 1988. The GOP wants an establishment candidate because they believe that attracts the Independent voters.
• The GOP is thoroughly out of touch.
• THERE. IS. NO. RON. PAUL. FEVER.  He started focusing on caucus states several weeks and how did that pan out for him this week?  He didn’t win a single contest and managed to win one delegate.  Maybe.
• Of the 227 delegates that have been awarded so far, Ron Paul has won 9.  NINE. That’s it.
• The next actual primaries that happen are Arizona and Michigan on February 28.  I think those results will be far more telling.
• I’m still not so sure how Romney will play in some of the Southern states–some of which vote one month from now on Super Tuesday.

#fitn 

Continue reading »]]> Last month, I appeared on WNYC’s “The Takeaway” as part of a round table on voting in the New Hampshire Primary.

Tomorrow morning (Thursday) at 7:45am EST, I’ll be part of a second round table discussion on the GOP Primaries.  Each of the participants will have, in theory, supported a different candidate of the four remaining in the field.

You can listen live on a station near you or streaming over the internet at http://www.thetakeaway.org/.

#fitn

Continue reading »]]> Much to my chagrin and dismay, I’ll be watching tonight’s State of the Union Address by President Barack Obama coming up at 9pm EST. I’ll also be Tweeting during the speech, so you can follow along in the Twitter widget on the right hand side of this page, or you can always follow me on your own Twitter feed by clicking here: http://twitter.com/conblog

#fitn

Continue reading »]]> Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich won the South Carolina Primary yesterday by a 13 point margin over Mitt Romney.  In the wake of that, here are some random thoughts I think I know after this.

1. South Carolina’s Evangelical Christian Conservatives are not ready for a President from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.
2. I think the winner of Florida goes on to be the nominee.   Yes, it’s a long nomination process, but I think Florida is a key victory for whomever the eventual nominee is.  Newt’s win in SC makes it a different game for Romney who hasn’t really had any really significant “good days” since he won in New Hampshire.
3. There definitely is NO Ron Paul Fever.  I said it in 2008 and it’s true again in 2012.   Dr. Paul will focus more heavily on caucus states, most likely because his supporters can bus people in and swarm them (which is presumably what they did in Iowa.)  At the end of the day, it comes down to “delegate math,” and there isn’t an equation that sees Ron Paul winning out.
4. There are still incredibly deep divisions between the three wings of the party, which I define as Estabslishment, Conservative, and Libertarian.  The Estabslishment GOP wants nothing to do with the other two.  The Libertarian GOP thinks the other two are part of the great conspiracy.  The Conservative GOP believes the Establishment types are RINOs and the Libertarians are anything but realists.
5. Mitt Romney is the Establishment candidate.
6. Newt Gingrich is considered to be the Conservative candidate by many–but shouldn’t be. (More on this later.)
7. Rick Santorum is the only truly Conservative candidate in this race, but he doesn’t have a path to nomination.
8. Ron Paul is the Libertarian candidate–and the other two groups in the GOP will never take him seriously (nor should they).

The Roundtable portion of this morning’s “Meet the Press” on NBC was interesting to watch.  I learned that former Congressman and current MSNBC host Joe Scarborough is no fan of Gingrich’s.  He, like the other panelists, seem to think that Conservatives are trying to send the GOP a message.

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Scarborough and Gingrich probably don’t exchange Christmas cards, I’m thinking.  He’s also right about Gingrich.  I won’t go as far as Glenn Beck did to call Newt a “Progresssive,” but he certainly has very little leeway to cast stones at Mitt Romney.

#fitn